Not Just a Nickname
by daydise
Summary: At Berk High, things worked in a certain order. Astrid Hofferson got straight A's. Astrid Hofferson is perfect in every way. Hiccup was the complete opposite. He got straight D's, and tripped over his own feet. Life sucked for Hiccup. Life couldn't be better for Astrid. However, they were both wrong. Everything changed after he learnt that Hiccup wasn't just a nickname. MODERN AU
1. Nickname?

**Chapter 1**

**I don't own HTTYD 1 or HTTYD 2**

**Full Summary:** At Berk High, things worked in a certain order. Astrid Hofferson got straight A's. Astrid Hofferson won every award in sport. Astrid Hofferson was the hottest and toughest girl in school. Hiccup was the complete opposite. He got straight D's, won the award for being the best bat to hit the ball in sport, the 'ugliest' boy in school, and had the pain threshold of a baby. Oh and one thing you should know, the principal of Berk High is his father. And he's related to Snotlout, his private bully. Life sucked for Hiccup. Life couldn't be better for Astrid. However, they were both wrong.

Everything changed after he learnt that Hiccup wasn't just a nickname.

* * *

><p>Hiccup walks through the fancy metal gates of Berk High, and immediately gets hit with water bombs by the school's heart throbcousin, Snotlout, and his friends. He looks up at Snotlout's smirking face and says dryly, "Thanks for the morning shower," before walking away. Hiccup would never understand why Scott Jorgenson wanted his nickname to be Snotlout.

He walks on the wet, green grass towards his locker in the east side of the school. The water from the bombs soaked through his green shirt and jeans. "My favourite shirt," he mumbles dryly, "ruined again." He drips water all the way to his locker, grabs his English and Maths books and weaves and dodges his was through the growing crowd in the hallway. His hair is stuck on his forehead, almost covering his eyes completely. He feels the water drip onto his mouth and resists the urge to lick it off. Hiccup could just see The Astrid walk through the glass doors to English through his hair. She's become an untouchable object in his mind. A pretty object, he thinks before shaking those thoughts away. Normally, he wouldn't call girls an object, or anything that wasn't an actual object. But this isn't a normal situation. The Astrid is a girl who no one manages to get close to. She never shows emotion, never smiles, never laughs. Well, yeah she has, but in his mind, they are all fake. Fake smiles, fake laughs, fake, fake, fake. In his mind, no one could be more fake than her. He considers her a robot. He sees her in class, always writing notes, ignoring the horny boys looking at her. She always aces her tests, always wins the sporting awards. Always laughing her fake little laughs when Snotlout makes a cruel joke about someone. Always smiles her fake smile when Ruff and Tuff fight in the hallways. Of course Hiccup could be wrong. He's normally wrong. Despite all of that, The Astrid still manages to be his crush since he first laid eyes on her.

He walks past the trophy cabinet, dreading the face he would see there. Hiccup purses his lips and sees the giant picture of his father in his 'prime time'. He groans and hunches over, ignoring the snickers of being the principal's son. It's even worse because he fails every class. Especially sport. His father was the Chief of the Vikings, which is the name of Berk's football team. They called him that because he was the quarter back. He was the best of the best. Hiccup trudges his way to class and hopes that the teacher won't ask him if he needs to change.

* * *

><p>"Do you need to change clothes, Henry?"<p>

Hiccup groans and slides down his chair, but it doesn't hide the blush creeping up his face. The class bursts out in laughter. Someone yells out, "Peed your pants again, Pisscup?" Probably Ruff. The class laughs again and he glances to The Astrid to watch her expression. He slumps even further down when he realises The Astrid looks like she really is actually laughing. Genuinely laughing at him. First time he's ever saw her laugh properly. It's a shame she's laughing at him. He slides down his chair until his head is at the very edge of the seat, where the back of his knees should be.

Hiccup wonders, not for the first time, what it would be like if he was as buff as his father, instead of a toothpick he is and has been for the past 15 years.

* * *

><p>He sits in the middle, a seat in front of The Astrid. It's only halfway through class and he's sleeping. Drool drips onto his shirt and in his dream he's flying. Both metaphorically and literally. Somehow, he's in the air, wind rushing through his auburn hair and stinging his emerald green eyes. The kids in his school call him Hiccup the Great, and he sees teachers hand him A+'s on his tests and assignments. He's the quarterback for the football team and they now call him Chief of the Vikings. His father is proud of him. He smiles but it falters. His dream crashes into reality when the teacher yells his name.<p>

"Mr. Haddock! Wake up and maybe you'll get an F on your report if your lucky!"

He snaps bolt upright but he's still slumped in his seat. Technically, he's not in his seat, but on the floor, with his head on the seat. Hiccup's head makes a loud thump against the table and he stands up, but ends up flipping the table over and sliding his chair back into the Astrid's table. How the teacher saw him sleeping under the table is beyond him. His hair is all over the place, his clothes still damp. The class laughs again and he blushes, stumbling to the door to get out of the Hel hole. Someone asks where he's going and he stammers out, "I-I n-n-eed t-to p-pee." He hears Ruff yell, "Told ya he's a pisscup!"

He stumbles out into the hallway, his boots suddenly too heavy to walk in and he trips into a rubbish bin. Hiccup curses and gets out he bin, and when he looks into the classroom, The Astrid is laughing. Her smile is pretty. He wonders if she her smile would be different if she were laughing with him instead of at him.

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><p>Hiccup runs from the classroom and runs faster when he hears his teacher yell. Hiccup looks back to the room but he bumps into his father, Stoick. Crap. 'Son, where are you goin'?'<p>

"Umm."

Stoick sighs as Hiccup dusts his jeans off. They stand there for a few minutes in silence. His father stares at the trophy cabinet, at the class of 1990. Hiccup tries glances over Stoick's shoulder but can't so he moves to stand next to his father. He sees his father standing with his around a girl's shoulders in a picture. Hiccup furrows his eyebrows and purses his lips.

"Who's that?"

"Valka. She was a beautiful lass, so smart. I lov-," Stoick stopped suddenly, and walked quickly away. He couldn't let his son see the tears on his face.

"Wait! Dad! Come back! You... love her?! Is she... Mum?!" He squeaked out the words 'mum' and 'love'. Hiccup ran after his father, but stopped after a few metres due to lack of stamina. It was because my body is having difficulty coping with all my muscles, Hiccup tells himself. He laughs to himself at his sad and weak attempt to boost his ego.

He looks down the hallway and spots Gobber, the school's only engineering teacher. He realises Gobber was in his father's grade in school. Hiccup debates on whether he should turn back or ask Gobber about Valka.

"Gobber, I need to talk to you!"

Gobber turns around and raises an eyebrow. "Why are you 'ere?"

"Er.. I just need an answer to my question, who's Valka?"

Gobber looks at me in disbelief. "She's your mother. Hasn't Stoick told ya yet?"

It's Hiccup's turn to look shocked. "What?"

"She's your mother-"

"I got that, I mean, why did you say Dad hasn't told me yet."

"He said he would tell you last month. You should go ask your father about Valka. Has he told you anything about her?"

"He said she died in a car crash when I was 3 months old," Hiccup mumbles. Gobber gives him a pained look.

"Go ask him. It's 'bout time he told ya 'bout her."

* * *

><p>Hiccup tiptoes to his father's office. He opens the door a little, and pokes his head inside. He sees his father standing at the window with hands behind his back.<p>

"Dad?"

"Hiccup? What are you doin' 'ere?" Stoick turns around to face his son. Hiccup expects to see a frown on his father's face, but instead, it's expressionless and his eyes are red.

Like he's been crying.

Except, his father never cries.

Hiccup hesitates, and looks at his shoes while picking at his nails.

"IwanttoknowaboutMum," he blurts. Hiccup looks up to see his father on the verge of tears. He made his indestructible father cry, and he swears to himself. Shit. Hiccup feels guilty, is just about to leave, but his father sighs.

"Valka's your mother, Hiccup."

Of course he already knew that, but his father's talking to him about his Mum for the first time ever, so he doesn't talk (for once). Hiccup moves to sit in a seat.

"She died in a car accident, when you were three months old."

Hiccup knew that too, since he was five. Even now when he thinks about it, tears threaten to fall.

"She.. she was... amazing. Smart and beautiful. Not sporty, but that never matters."

Hiccup's jaw drops. His father saying sport never matters? This day is getting weirder by the second.

"You remind me of her so much. You both like to draw, talk about nonsense and.."

Hiccup looks expectantly at his father, who sits on his desk.

"When you were born, you didn't cry. You just hiccuped. We didn't even think it was possible for you to hiccup when you just came out of the womb. Valka wanted to name you Hiccup. I wanted to name you Henry. But I caved in and let Valka name you."

Hiccup stares at his father. "My name's actually Hiccup? I thought it was a nickname because on the first day of school, I hiccuped all day-"

Of course his father didn't listen. It was like talking to a brick wall.

"I so sorry Hiccup. I know it must've been hard to not know anythin' about your mother, but I didn't have the strength to talk about her. I'm proud of you, Hiccup. I know your grades aren't the best, and your P.E classes aren't exactly what I was hopin' for, but I'm proud because you put up with me and for havin' the strength to not know anythin' about one of your parents, 'til now."

Hiccup still feels like he's disappointed his father. "Would Mum be proud?"

Did Hiccup mention Stoick is like a brick wall?

Well, brick walls never answer.

Stoick left the room.

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><p>School finished in a blink of an eye. In class, he got the some teasing, and at lunch, no one disturbed him at his secret little paradise (safehaven from bullies) at the back of the school. He passed the time with drawing. He draws mainly dragons and now he draws his mother. He hardly saw Astrid or his father. Every time he passed the trophy cabinet, he would stare at his mother.<p>

When Hiccup got home, he decides to make his mother proud. He decides to live up to his name, even if it kinda sucky.

First step, fixing his grades.

He groans. This'll mean he has to try in class. Trying in class is mental suicide, but he goes with it. _Anything to make my Mum proud._

Little did he know that if he tried, he would cause trouble in the very delicate system of Berk High.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so I wrote this story before and my sister deleted it and all my files for it :0, and I didn't realise till a few days later. I had to rewrite everything, but at least it was only a chapter :)<strong>

**Review x**


	2. Beating Astrid

**Chapter 2**

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><p>Astrid is laughing. It is kind of weird. By weird, she means it feels weird. She quickly dismisses the thought when she can't see Hiccup out the classroom window. She looks at the desk in front of her. It's flipped over and all of Hiccup's notes are scattered everywhere. She could just see... dragons? They were sketches on his work. Damn good sketches, but she ignores that. Astrid decides it's funny enough to laugh again. The laugh feels weird, again.<p>

**THE NEXT WEEK**

Hiccup studied all of last week for this science test. Next period is science. He feels confident, for once in his life. He feels like he's going to ace this test.

Astrid studied all fortnight for this science test. Next period is science. Astrid knows she's going to ace this test. Like everything else. She knows she's the only one who cares about their grades. She knows she's the smartest kid in her year level, and probably the school.

Hiccup sits down, and waits for the test paper to be handed out. He pulls out his lucky green pencil with a black dragon-shaped eraser at the top.

Astrid sits down and pulls out her 'lucky' blue pencil with little axe stickers on it. She doesn't believe in luck.

The focus is on human anatomy. The first question was easy. Unbelievably easy.

* * *

><p>Q1<p>

The shoulder and hip joints are of which type?

They both circle C.  
>They are both ball and socket joints.<p>

Q10

Which part of your brain regulates sleep?

Astrid answers Supachiasmatic nucleus.

Hiccup answers Suprachiasmatic nucleus.

* * *

><p>Spelling never will be Astrid's strong point, and Astrid had to spell a lot on this test.<p>

* * *

><p>Hiccup feels very confident. He could imagine that red A stamped on his test.<p>

**THE NEXT DAY**

Hiccup smiles for the first time in months. A red B+ is on his test paper. B+ is a good start for his goal.

Astrid frowns for the first time in months. A red B- is on her test paper. She nearly screams, but realises she's in class and can't just snap. It'll ruin her rep. Instantly, she checks if anyone has a score higher than her. Her gaze passes over Hiccup and then crosses to Snotlout. She backtracks her gaze to Hiccup's smiling face. He never smiles. Ever. Subconsciously, she thinks his smile is nice and she could get used to it. Her jaw drops when she sees that red B+ on his test.

She nearly falls out of her seat. What the actually fuck?

Astrid rubs her eyes and looks back at Hiccup's paper, but the red B+ isn't going away.

Suddenly, the teacher's voice snaps her mind back to reality. Astrid nearly growls.

"Hiccup has the highest score on this test," Mrs. Brooks says in disbelief. However, no body was listening. Then she turns her gaze to look at Astrid. "For once, Astrid is not top of the class. Congrats, Hiccup." This catches the class's attention. Everyone stares and gapes at Hiccup and Astrid.

Astrid is shocked to hear it like it's a fact, like the rest of the class.

Astrid is _always_ top of the class. Hiccup had ruined that. It could've been pure luck that Hiccup managed to get B+ and not a D. But Astrid doesn't believe in luck.

When she turns to look at Hiccup, he's already at the door. The bell rings a second later and Hiccup is gone.

"I swear I'm going to kill him."

* * *

><p>Hiccup hears what the teacher said and nearly falls out of his seat. He beat Astrid? He stares wide-eyed at Astrid's face. She looks like she's mentally stabbing the teacher. He gulps. He knows she's going to do the exact same thing to him, but with real knives. He decides to bolt to the door before she looks at him. Shit.<p>

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><p><strong>I know it's short, but I have to end it here (like it's actually important to end it here. No joke). <strong>

**Chapter 3 will be up in two days (probably).**

**Review x**


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